'Countering Disinformation Effectively': A discussion with Jon Bateman and Dean Jackson

Speed and Scale with Baybars Orsek

In this episode, I chat with the co-authors of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's recent report, ''Countering Disinformation Effectively: An Evidence-Based Policy Guide,'', Jon Bateman and Dean Jackson.

We talked about different interventions to tackle disinformation, the challenges in data gaps, existing and forthcoming research on fact-checking, media literacy, and platform measures, and areas where additional investment is promising to generate impact at speed and scale. We even promised to have another conversation in 2025 after this year's wave of elections to do a retrospect on our collective efforts to counter disinformation.

Tune in to hear more about Jon's and Dean's research and a thought-provoking conversation, including regulatory attempts around digital platforms in Europe and the lack thereof in the United States.
Jon Bateman is a senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research areas include disinformation, cyber operations, artificial intelligence, and techno-nationalism. Bateman previously was special assistant to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., serving as a speechwriter and the lead strategic analyst in the chairman’s internal think tank. He has also helped craft policy for military cyber operations in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and was a senior intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he led teams responsible for assessing Iran’s internal stability, senior-level decision-making, and cyber activities. Bateman is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Johns Hopkins University.

Dean Jackson is the principal of Public Circle Research & Consulting and a specialist in democracy, media, and technology. In 2023, he was named an inaugural Tech Policy Press reporting fellow and an affiliate fellow with the Propaganda Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Previously, he was an investigative analyst with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol and project manager of the Influence Operations Researchers’ Guild at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2013 to 2021, Jackson managed research and program coordination activities related to media and technology at the National Endowment for Democracy. He holds an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago and a BA in political science from Wright State University in Dayton, OH.

Listen to previous episodes at speedandscalepodcast.com and engage with the host at baybarsorsek.com or on LinkedIn to join the conversation.
Baybars Orsek is the Vice President of Fact-Checking at Logically and the Managing Director of its independent subsidiary, Logically Facts. Before joining Logically, he was the director of the International Fact-Checking Network and international programming at the Poynter Institute between 2019 and 2022.